ALUMNI CONNECTION
Building relationships
Alum helps lead efforts to strengthen ALANA ties
Leon Heyward ’81 credits a guidance counselor back at his high school in Brooklyn with putting the University of Vermont on his radar. Since a fellow grad was already enrolled at UVM, Heyward figured he would give it a look. He found the people to be open; the atmosphere, comfortable; and just liked the feel of the place on his first visit. “That was all she wrote,” he says.
More than twenty-five years since his UVM graduation, Heyward is helping to ensure that current ALANA students, many of them from urban neighborhoods like his own, find the campus every bit as comfortable. The University’s undergraduate multicultural student population has grown steadily in recent years—from approximately four hundred in 2001 to more than six hundred students today.
Better connecting UVM’s ALANA alumni with the University and current ALANA students has long been a priority for Heyward, and it’s a focus of his current work as a member of the Alumni Council. He credits council president Janet Terp ’80 G’94 and vice president Meg Guzewicz ’73, together with Alan Ryea ’90 of Development and Alumni Relations, for initiating progress on these issues and recruiting him to join the effort.
Heyward cites the popular Soul Food Social, held during Homecoming and Family Weekend, as a prime example of an opportunity to build richer experiences for ALANA alumni and students. “The Soul Food Social is the students’ event. How can we get more alumni there?” Heyward asks. “How can we capitalize on it, create something bigger out of it, and start making connections?” He suggests possibilities could include partnering the social with an ALANA alumni career panel, fostering opportunities for dialogue and mentoring.
Married to a fellow alum (Linda Grace Heyward ’84), he says it is too early to tell if the couple’s two daughters, Emily and Sarah, ages eleven and thirteen, will follow their parents’ lead to Burlington—but there’s promise. The girls have seen their share of UVM sporting events when the Catamounts visit Greater NYC.
An economics major who was active in student government during his UVM years, Heyward has long worked in New York City’s Department of Transportation, where he is deputy commissioner overseeing the city’s sidewalks. Asked how many miles of pavement that might be, Heyward laughs, and says he’s seen the figure, but can’t recall it at the moment. Rest assured, he says, “It’s a big number.”
UVM at the movies
Two alumni in the film business, Jay Roth ’68 and Jon Kilik ’78, have been honored in recent months for their work.
Roth, longtime national executive director of the Directors Guild of America, received that organization’s Honorary Life Member Award at the Annual DGA Awards in late January. “Jay is a true industry leader, admired and trusted by all sides,” said DGA President Michael Apted. “His skill, his intelligence, his energy and his real love of the DGA and what it stands for are priceless assets to our guild and the entertainment industry. He’s a remarkable man with a brilliant mind and great insight. If there’s anyone who can find himself in a labyrinth, pick his way through and come out the other side—it’s Jay.”
photo by Mario Morgado
Giving a leg up to Vermont’s state animal
Amy Tarrant Foundation pledges Morgan Farm support
The University of Vermont Morgan Horse Farm in Weybridge has received a pledge of $1 million from the Amy E. Tarrant Foundation. The gift, the largest ever to the historic facility, will be used to create an Amy E. Tarrant Endowed Fund for the Morgan Horse Farm, with $800,000 to establish the endowment and $200,000 for current operating needs.
“We are so very grateful to Amy Tarrant for her gift,” said UVM president Daniel Mark Fogel. “The Morgan Horse Farm is an important part of the history and culture of the University of Vermont and indeed the entire state and region. This endowment will give the farm a margin of comfort it’s never had in meeting its annual operating expenses and investing in the maintenance of its historic buildings.”
The Morgan Horse Farm was given to the University of Vermont in 1951 by the federal government, which had operated the Morgan breeding program since receiving the farm from publisher and philanthropist Joseph Battell in 1907. Today, the UVM “government” line of Morgan Horse is considered one of the best in the world. In addition to operating a commercial-scale breeding program, the farm serves as a laboratory resource for UVM’s equine science students to learn about foaling, breeding, and animal care.
“The Morgan Horse Farm is one of Vermont’s treasures, and I’m very pleased to be able to help ensure that it’s preserved and maintained for future generations,” said Amy Tarrant.
Three of Tarrant's five children are UVM alumni—Jerry ’89, Richard ’90, and Brian ’93. Her past support of UVM has included funding for the Ellen A. Hardacre Equine Center at UVM, named after her mother, and for the renovation of the remount barn at the Morgan Horse Farm.
Reunion update
Consider the possibilities
With Reunion 2008 less than two months away for the classes of ’03, ’98, ’93, ’88, ’83, ’78, ’73, ’68, ’63, ’58, ’53, ’48, ’43, ’38, and ’33, planning is coming together for a lively and diverse program. Here’s a glimpse of a few options:
“Sustainable Living in the 21st-Century” will be the subject of a Friday morning panel discussion in the Davis Center. Martha Perkins ’58 will moderate the event, which will include panelists Lawrence Forcier, interim dean of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources; Gioia Thompson ’87 G’00, director of UVM’s Office of Sustainability; Megan Camp ’84, education director at Shelburne Farms; and Kit Perkins ’86 of Burlington’s Intervale Foundation.
Reunion Weekend 2008 kicks off the evening of Thursday, May 29, with a Burlington Discover Jazz inspired Spanish Harlem Orchestra show in the Grand Ballroom of the Davis Center. Come early for a salsa dance class and wear your dancing shoes for this Latin dance party style event. Alumni who purchase their tickets with their Reunion events receive a special discount.
Alumni and faculty authors Miriam Nelson ’83, Bonnie Christiansen ’73, and Professor Jean Harvey-Berino are among the guests for a Reunion book-signing in the works at the new UVM Bookstore in the Davis Center.
Not to be missed, Paul Carney ’88 and Patricia Larrabee ’83, both reunion chairs for their classes, are leading the way in planning a Saturday afternoon of broomball on the Gutterson ice.
(for UVM staff)